Child Pornography

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In which European Union member states it is a criminal offence to make, distribute or view pornography involving children.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: It is a criminal offence to make, distribute or view pornography involving children in the UK, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, France, Cyprus, Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Ireland, Malta, Austria and Portugal.
	Although it is a criminal offence to make or distribute pornography involving children in Sweden, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Greece, the law in these countries does not specifically mention the viewing of pornography involving children.
	But in order to comply with a European Union Framework Decision of 22 December 2003 on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, all EU member states are required by 20 January 2006 to take the necessary measures to ensure that the production, distribution, dissemination, transmission, supply, acquisition or possession of child pornography are criminalised under national law.

Human Rights: FCO Annual Report

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the Times (13 October) is accurate in reporting that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has delayed publication of the 2004 Human Rights Report to "dilute criticism of Britain's allies on the war on terror", and, if not, what is the reason for the delay.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not delayed publication of the Annual Report on Human Rights to dilute criticism of any country. The annual report was originally due to be launched on 16 September. Owing to the tragic events in Beslan, Russia, earlier that month, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary reconsidered the timing of the launch. He believed that it was the time to focus on the grief and sense of loss of the Russian people as a whole and on the total culpability of the terrorists responsible for this atrocity. The Foreign Secretary also wanted to consider how best to reflect the tragedy in Beslan in the text of the annual report. The Foreign Secretary will launch the annual report on Human Rights on 10 November.

School Playing Fields

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What specific changes proposed under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and the associated guidance support the announcement by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on 27 August that protection for school playing fields is to be improved.

Lord Filkin: Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was introduced on 1 October 1998 to stop the indiscriminate sale of school playing fields that occurred in the 1980s and early to mid 1990s. During this time there was widespread concern at the unrestricted sale of school playing fields. If a local authority wanted to sell a school playing field there was nothing to stop it and it could spend the proceeds as it wished.
	Local authorities and governing bodies of all maintained schools now need the Secretary of State's consent before they can dispose of a playing field or any part of a playing field.
	The main changes announced by the Secretary of State to further strengthen the existing strict criteria against which applications are assessed are:
	the sale of a playing field must be an absolute last resort with local authorities now having to demonstrate that they have exhausted all other sources of funding for the required school sports facilities;
	sale proceeds must be used to improve outdoor sports facilities wherever possible, so that local authorities will have to provide first-class outdoor facilities before introducing new indoor facilities;
	new sports facilities must be sustainable for at least 10 years, "locking-in" improvements and ensuring that they are available to pupils for the long term.

Incapacity Benefit: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

The Countess of Mar: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether it is their intention that people in receipt of incapacity benefit for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis and who are in the care of a general practitioner or consultant should be obliged to undergo any type of rehabilitation treatment as a condition for their continued receipt of the benefit.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham: Her Majesty's Government have no plans to mandate anybody in receipt of an incapacity benefit to undergo rehabilitation. The Government's approach, as delivered in their flagship incapacity benefit reform programme, Pathways to Work, is to work actively and intensively with the large number of people on incapacity benefit who expect and want to work again.

Paralympic Sports: UK Sport Funding

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What level of funding has been provided to British Paralympic sports on a sport-by-sport basis since the Sydney 2000 Paralympics.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: A summary of the amount of lottery funding provided by UK Sport since April 2001 is shown in the following table.
	
		£
		
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 Total 
			 Athletics 382,913.00 306,625.00 494,680.00 720,936.00 1,905,154.00 
			 Boccia 21,435.00 69,176.00 44,500.00 66,281.00 201,392.00 
			 Goalball 10,000.00 3,465.00 0.00 0.00 13,465.00 
			 Powerlifting 54,104.00 50,000.00 52,500.00 58,637.00 215,241.00 
			 Shooting 46,602.00 21,000.00 50,494.00 41,871.00 159,967.00 
			 Swimming 706,000.00 797,855.00 739,062.00 781,083.00 3,024,000.00 
			 Table Tennis 45,000.00 57,686.00 54,262.00 30,349.00 187,297.00 
			 Wheelchair Basketball 191,448.00 230,152.00 200,000.00 200,000.00 821,600.00 
			 Wheelchair Fencing 28,512.90 28,500.00 37,500.00 30,000.00 124,512.90 
			 Wheelchair Rugby 76,601.00 86,433.00 74,000.00 88,850.00 325,884.00 
		
	
	UK Sport has also provided funding towards the paralympic sports of archery, cycling, judo, equestrian and sailing but the figures are not reflected above as the funding is incorporated with their Olympic programme.

Olympic Games 2012: London Bid

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the event of the London Olympics 2012 bid being successful, whether they will host the shooting events in the Woolwich Arsenal.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Should London win the bid to host the 2012 Games, we are planning to hold the shooting events at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich.

Olympic Games 2012: London Bid

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How they intend to fund the £1.5 billion operating budget for the 2012 Olympic Games, if the London bid is successful.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The proposed operating budget for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been cast on a self-financing basis, with expenditure balanced by incomes from international and local sponsorship, broadcast revenues and ticket sales. There is also an allowance from the public sector funding package to assist in staging the Paralympic Games as required by the International Olympic Committee.

Olympic Games 2012: London Bid

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the evidence given by the Mayor of London and representatives of the London 2012 Committee to the Greater London Assembly on 13 October is correct in stating that public support will account for 0.5 per cent of the International Olympic Committee's evaluation of London's Olympic bid.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: London 2012 has advised that the information provided to the assembly on the weighting of public support was an approximation relating to the assessment made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in May 2004. In its working group report on all applicant cities, the category of "Government Support, Legal Issues and Public Opinion" was given a weighting of two out of a possible 36, with public support accounting for 15 per cent of the total marks awarded in that category. That equates to 0.083 per cent.
	There is no information currently available about the weighting of public support in the final IOC evaluation, although it will be important for a successful bid to be able to demonstrate high levels of public support throughout the UK.

Olympic Games 2012: London Bid

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Who will pay for the security costs associated with hosting the Olympic Games if the London 2012 bid is successful; and what estimates they have made of such costs.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Using the same approach as that taken for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, security for the Olympic Park and venues will be covered within the Olympic operating budget with the public sector funding package paying for the wider costs of policing and anti-terrorism. On the basis of a detailed assessment by consultants and after close liaison with the Metropolitan Police Service, sums for both of these elements have been provisionally identified in the Olympic budget. These will be available on publication of the candidate file next month; the International Olympic Committee have asked candidate cities not to make the file public prior to then.

Olympic Games 2012: London Bid

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How they will share the costs between the Mayor of London, the National Lottery and the Exchequer of any public subsidy required by the London 2012 Olympics in excess of the £2.375 billion already confirmed within the June 2003 Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and the Mayor of London on Olympic funding; and
	In line with their funding formula for the hosting of the London Olympic Games in 2012, what would be the anticipated precept levels for Londoners assuming an overspend of (a) £1 billion; (b) £2 billion; and (c) £3 billion.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The robust and business-like approach to planning and financial controls on the part of the Olympic stakeholders are designed to prevent such overspend. As the Memorandum of Understanding, laid before the Parliament as Command Paper 5867, states in paragraph 17, in the event of any overspend the Government will be the ultimate guarantor. We further reported this to Parliament in a Departmental Minute dated 2 December 2003. As the memorandum goes on to say, the Government expect to discharge that responsibility (should it arise) in a sharing agreement to be agreed as appropriate with the Mayor of London and through seeking additional National Lottery funding in amounts to be agreed at the time. At this stage however, no such specific sharing arrangements exist. Whatever the arrangements which might apply, levels of any London council tax precept would be a matter for the Mayor of London.

Gambling Bill

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is their assessment of the effects of their proposed relaxation of the restrictions on gambling in casinos on corruption, money-laundering and other forms of serious criminal wrongdoing; and upon what information their assessment is based.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The proposals in the Gambling Bill which relate to casinos should have no adverse impact in terms of crime. There is no reason why, for example, making it possible for casinos to advertise or removing the requirement that they must operate as members' clubs should have such an impact. On the contrary, the Bill will provide the Gambling Commission with monitoring and investigative powers which the Gaming Board now lacks, and the ability to exchange information about casino operators and applicants for casino licences with bodies with whom the Board has no information gateway. The commission will also have more resources than the board; and the prevention of gambling from being a source of crime, being associated with crime or being used to support crime will be one of its statutory functions. It is also relevant that casinos are already subject to the European Union's second money-laundering directive, and will be subject to the provisions of the further directive which now under discussion. We have received no representations from the police about the impact of the Bill in relation to serious or organised crime.

Gambling Bill

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What analysis and projections have been made of the impact of the Gambling Bill on future income generated by the National Lottery for good causes; and whether they will place any such analysis in the Library of the House.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The position remains as set out in paragraph 5.11 of A Safe Bet for Success, laid before Parliament as Cm 5397.

Youth Sports: Anti-doping Roles

Lord Moynihan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What expertise in anti-doping work is available within the Youth Sports Trust.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Youth Sports Trust has no role in anti-doping and is primarily concerned with implementing the new national strategy on PE, school sport and club links.
	UK Sport, as the recognised National Anti-Doping Organisation for the UK, has responsibility for educating athletes about anti-doping and has a special scheme aimed specifically at young athletes aged 13-17, called Start Clean.

Passive Smoking

Lord Smith of Leigh: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the light of evidence of the effects of passive smoking, how they propose to protect those who work in places where smoking is currently allowed.

Lord Warner: This year as part of the Choosing Health? consultation the Government talked to a wide range of people to get their views and their proposals about how health may be improved. One issue this covered is how best to protect people from secondhand smoke. We have stated our belief that the status quo is not an option. The Goverment's conclusions on this matter will be covered in the forthcoming White Paper.

Animal Health and Welfare Strategy

Lord Morris of Manchester: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What consideration the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has given to the view recently expressed by the president of the British Veterinary Association that the department's approach to implementing the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy is "at the very least complacent, and potentially downright dangerous"; and what action the department is taking.

Lord Whitty: The Government have worked very closely with the BVA in developing the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy. There are some areas where the BVA argues that Government should adopt a more interventionist approach, in particular, the licensing of livestock farms, the introduction of compulsory farm health plans and annual veterinary visits. The BVA has also called for greater level of government spending in this area, particularly in respect of veterinary surveillance.
	The Animal Health and Welfare Strategy is based on a strong partnership approach and does not propose an increased level of regulatory burden on the livestock farming sector. I do not accept the allegation from the past president of the BVA that the Government are complacent. In seeking to encourage a partnership approach, we are seeking to work with the wide range of interested parties to jointly own and implement the strategy, using it as a framework to guide the decision-making process.

Orchards

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When they intend to publish detailed guidelines on what constitutes a traditional orchard for the purpose of the Single Farm Payment.

Lord Whitty: On traditional orchards, the Commission has confirmed that the existing guidance on eligibility of land in dual use, while in need of updating, will not change in substance. But this refers to "grazed" land. This does not appear consistent with a decoupled scheme and we are taking this (along with a number of other issues) up with the Commission.
	In the mean time we are pressing ahead and have commissioned the Central Science Laboratory (which has an extensive database on which to call) to draw up some criteria for such orchards that might easily be applied in the field. That project is now complete and will form the basis for criteria that we will have to test with the Commission. We plan to publish that work shortly.

Orchards

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What rationale was used to decide that orchards planted after 1977 are not likely to be eligible for the Single Farm Payment, given that the grants by the Government and their agencies; have been given to plant traditional orchards since that date.

Lord Whitty: Regardless of planting date, land used for permanent crops, including orchards, cannot be used to support a claim for the new single payment. This rule applies in all EU member states. But existing guidance from the European Commission (and it has confirmed that while the guidance needs to be updated, the substance will not change) does allow land in dual use, for example, traditional grazed orchards, to be used to claim subsidy in certain circumstances.

Orchards

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What criteria are used to determine how many trees per hectare qualify as a traditional orchard.

Lord Whitty: Current Commission guidance allows member states a degree of flexibility in determining what criteria orchards might need to meet (which might include tree density) in order to be eligible to claim against CAP subsidy claims. While this guidance is in need of updating, the Commission has confirmed that the substance will not change. We have asked the Central Science Laboratory to undertake a project to draw up criteria we might use in future to determine eligibility of dual use orchards for subsidy and plan to publish its report shortly.

Fly-tipping

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many convictions have been brought against illegal fly-tippers for each of the years 1999 to 2003.

Lord Whitty: No national data are currently available. However, the Environment Agency records incidents with which it deals. The figures for Section 33 (illegal disposal of waste or fly-tipping) are detailed below.
	
		
			  
			 1999 142 (1 April–31 December) 
			 2000 205 
			 2001 232 
			 2002 258 
			 2003 247 
			 2004 157 (1 January–30 September) 
		
	
	The Government have been working with the Environment Agency and the Local Government Association to develop the Flycapture database, which will allow better national data to be collected in future on levels of fly-tipping. These first results from these data should be available shortly.

Scrapie: Defra-funded Research

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Which six Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-funded research projects into scrapie were started prior to 1999; and what were the start dates.

Lord Whitty: The following six research projects were those referred to as being funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs prior to 1999, in the response drafted to Baroness Byford, following the debate on the TSE (England) (Amendment) Regulation 2004 on 8 September.
	
		
			 Project code Title Start date 
			 SE1424 The study of BSE in sheep and the possibility of its vertical transmission 
			  1996 
			 SE1428 Pathogenesis studies of experimental BSE in sheep 
			  1997 
			 SE1429 Characterisation (by transmission to mice) of BSE from experimentally infected sheep of diffrent PrP genotypes 1998 
			 SE1432 The susceptibility of NZ sheep to TSE infectivity and linkage with PrP genotypes 
			  1998 
			 SE1919 Studies to identify possible homologies between scrapie agents in the British sheep population and the agent of BSE 
			  1995 
			 SE1929 Studies of experimental BSE in genetically susceptible sheep 
			  1998

Scottish Parliament Building

Lord Barnett: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the United Kingdom Government have made a contribution to the additional cost of the Scottish Parliament building; and, if so, how much.

Lord Evans of Temple Guiting: Responsibility for the construction of the Scottish Parliament is a devolved matter. Its cost has therefore been met from the Scottish assigned budget. The Government have made no additional contribution.

Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

Lord Palmer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When they intend to implement the provisions of the Energy Act 2004 in respect of the introduction of a renewable transport fuel obligation; and
	Whether the opposition of certain oil companies will deter them from introducing a renewable transport fuel obligation; and
	Whether they expect United Kingdom road transport emissions to exceed the 1990 Kyoto base levels by at least 12 per cent in 2006 and 18 per cent by 2010 in the event of a renewable fuel transport obligation not being introduced soon.

Lord Davies of Oldham: No decision has yet been taken on whether the Government should introduce any form of renewable transport fuels obligation. It is one of a number of policy options which the Government are currently considering as a way of supporting the development and use of biofuels in the UK. Before introducing any obligation, the Government would consult extensively on how it might operate.
	The Government are considering greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors, including transport, in the context of the climate change review announced by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in September. The review will include an update of greenhouse gas emissions projections and an assessment of the costs and benefits to the UK of further measures to reduce emissions.

Railways: Colne-Preston Line

Lord Greaves: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the cuts in services on the east Lancashire line in the new autumn timetable (which mean that many trains do not stop at some stations) accord with the franchise agreement which covers this line.

Lord Davies of Oldham: First North Western is operating a reduced service from some stations on the Colne-Preston line in order to combat the performance problems caused by leaf-fall. The changes have been approved by the Strategic Rail Authority and derogations from the Passenger Service Requirement granted, as allowed by the franchise agreement. The stops will be reintroduced from December 12.

Scooters on Trains

Lord Greaves: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether a ban on four-wheel motability scooters on trains has recently been introduced or otherwise exists; and, if so, what are the reasons for such a ban.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The decision on whether to carry scooters on trains is a matter for individual train operating companies (TOCs). There is no legislation that either prohibits them from carrying scooters or requires them to do so.
	There is a wide and growing range of scooter models available, each with its own capabilities and characteristics. However, scooters are generally not considered to be suitable for carriage on public transport, including trains because of concerns over size, weight, manoeuvrability and stability. Both the Department for Transport and the Department of Health have published guides explaining this. These are available in the Library.
	We believe that operators are best placed to decide whether to carry scooters, according to the rolling stock they use and the local operating environment. The majority of TOCs will not carry them. Both the Government and TOCs are aware, however, that smaller, lighter, more manoeuvrable models are now available. In light of this, some train companies have been re-examining their current policies, with some relaxing their complete bans and permitting the carriage of smaller models.
	Officials recently observed a trial by South West Trains, during which a range of scooter models attempted to board and park safely on the different types of train that SWT uses. The results showed the difficulty of having a single policy, and confirmed that TOCs are best placed to decide their own procedures, according to their own particular operation.
	Individual companies' policy should be available as part of their disabled persons' protection policies, which they are required to produce by the Strategic Rail Authority. Copies of these policies are available from stations or from the TOCs' websites.

A27

Lord Baker of Dorking: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What proposals they have received from the Highways Agency to improve the A27 between Brighton and Chichester.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Highways Agency is currently preparing for a public consultation on proposals to upgrade the A27 at Chichester. This is due to commence on 29 November 2004. The agency has also completed its studies of options for improvement to the A27 at Arundel and Worthing/Lancing and a report is nearing completion.